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Thursday, August 10, 2017

Adrian man sentenced for Meth and Illegal Firearms Charges

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that an Adrian, Mo., man has been sentenced in federal court for drug trafficking and illegally possessing a firearm.Jesus A. Arredondo, 24, of Adrian, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2017, to 11 years in federal prison without parole.On March 22, 2017, Arredondo pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, three counts of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.According to the plea agreement, Jackson County sheriff’s deputies attempted to stop Arredondo (who had an unidentified female passenger in his vehicle) on Oct. 14, 2015, near the intersection of Beach Road and Colbern Road in Lee’s Summit, Mo. Arredondo, driving a stolen vehicle, led deputies on a chase that reached speeds up to 100 miles per hour. During the pursuit, Arredondo failed to yield for multiple red lights and stop signs and traveled the wrong direction on multiple roadways. Arredondo traveled off the roadway and crashed near Grain Valley, Mo., and fled on foot. Deputies took Arredondo into custody in a nearby field.Inside Arredondo’s vehicle, deputies found 81 grams of methamphetamine, marijuana, a number of Hydrocodone and other pills and a glass pipe.Arredondo told law enforcement officers that he and the woman in his vehicle had been driving to multiple locations to sell methamphetamine. She had taken multiple Xanax pills and fell asleep in the passenger seat while he was driving. Arredondo also admitted that he had thrown a handgun with laser sights from the vehicle as he was fleeing from law enforcement.Arredondo told officers he facilitated many narcotics transactions, including large methamphetamine sales using his connections from Mexico. Two days earlier, he said, Arredondo had orchestrated a deal for three kilograms of methamphetamine for $35,000.A week later, the owner of a Grain Valley business near the location where Arredondo’s vehicle crashed notified law enforcement that he found a black nylon backpack on his property. Inside the backpack was a baggie that contained 315.85 grams of methamphetamine (which Arredondo later identified as part of the three-kilogram shipment smuggled from Mexico into Texas), a digital scale and a cell phone.On Oct. 25, 2015, Harrisonville, Mo., police officers responded to a call regarding a careless and imprudent driver. Arredondo, the driver of the vehicle, had fled on foot with a red backpack prior to the officers’ arrival. When officers arrived, they contacted Arredondo, who admitted he was driving fast. Officers searched the vehicle and found 7.6 grams of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, 9mm ammunition and $2,526.On Nov. 2, 2015, Harrisonville police officers responded to a call reporting suspicious behavior at Burger King. They were directed to a vehicle that was stopped in the drive-through lane in which Arredondo was a passenger and an unidentified female was the driver. Officers searched the vehicle and found 23.7 grams of methamphetamine, 81 syringes, a glass pipe and a loaded Intratec TEC-9 firearm. They also found a black safe that was later searched and found to contain 71.7 grams of methamphetamine and a single 9mm bullet.Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Arredondo has a prior felony conviction for assault for beating his girlfriend.This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Q. McCarther. It was investigated by the Jackson County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Grain Valley, Mo., Police Department, the Harrisonville, Mo., Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Jackson County Drug Task Force.